Montana Code 46-18-1110. Expungement orders
46-18-1110. Expungement orders. (1) When multiple misdemeanor offenses are requested to be expunged, the court may order expungement of all, some, or none of the misdemeanor offenses.
Terms Used In Montana Code 46-18-1110
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Arrest: means taking a person into custody in the manner authorized by law. See Montana Code 46-1-202
- Court: means a place where justice is judicially administered and includes the judge of the court. See Montana Code 46-1-202
- expungement: means to permanently destroy, delete, or erase a record of an offense from the criminal history record information system maintained by the department of justice in a manner that is appropriate for the record's physical or electronic form. See Montana Code 46-18-1103
- Offense: means a violation of any penal statute of this state or any ordinance of its political subdivisions. See Montana Code 46-1-202
- Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Prosecutor: means an elected or appointed attorney who is vested by law with the power to initiate and carry out criminal proceedings on behalf of the state or a political subdivision. See Montana Code 46-1-202
(2)If an order of expungement is granted:
(a)the order must direct, for each offense being expunged, the arresting law enforcement agency, the prosecutor‘s office that prosecuted the offense, and the clerk of the court in which the person was sentenced to permanently seal all records of the arrest, investigation, and detention, if any, and any court proceedings that may have been held in the case in the possession of the recipient of the order within existing resources; and
(b)the person whose records are to be expunged shall send, for each offense being expunged, a copy of the order to the arresting law enforcement agency, the prosecutor’s office that prosecuted the offense, the clerk of the court in which the person was sentenced, and the department of justice, along with the fingerprints taken pursuant to 46-18-1104 for validating identity and a form prepared by the department of justice that contains identifying information about the petitioner.
(3)On receipt of an expungement order sent pursuant to subsection (2)(b), the department of justice shall, within existing department resources, expunge all records of arrest, investigation, detention, and court proceedings relating to the person’s offenses addressed by the order.